Two Equals One
by elmo-doodle
Summary: Tomoyo is struggling with a math question, so she calls upon the next smartest person she knows. TomoyoxEriol, fluff!


Everyone thinks that Daidouji Tomoyo enjoys every subject that she does at school, mostly because she is pretty much top of the class in everything. Well, it's true that's top of her class; actually, top of her year. But it's not true that she doesn't enjoy every subject…

Tomoyo sighed in frustration as she threw yet another piece of crumpled up paper in to the bin.

Ah yes. Math. You would never think that the subject which Tomoyo was top in was actually the one she struggled with. Tomoyo herself might even go as far to say that she loathed math, even more than Sakura-chan.

Tomoyo took a few deep breathes to try and calm herself. Feeling her anger subside, she took another chance at tackling the math problem before her. Her head was so close to the paper that she couldn't see the snow falling outside her window.

It was the night before Christmas Eve, and Tomoyo wanted to get her holiday work finished within the first few days so that she would not leave it too late. She had finished all her other assignments and was now attempting to answer the last question of her math homework before the evening came. She scribbled down a few more equations before almost screaming in annoyance and crumpling up that bit of paper, too.

"I can't do it!" she moaned to herself, letting her head fall on to her arms on the table. "It's too hard…I'm never going to get this finished." It was then that a sudden idea struck her. Yes, she was to of the class, but she did not share that title alone. Hesitating before picking up her phone, she dialed a number.

"Hello?" She said in to the receiver. "Yes, it's me. I'm sorry to disturb your day like this, but I have a favor that I need to ask of you…" she looked over to the overflowing bin. "Hai, it's the math." She paused as she listened to the person on the other end. "Yes, thank-you." Tomoyo hung up the phone and then began frantically trying to tidy up the mess that her room had become in the last few hours.

About twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Tomoyo rushed down to answer it herself since most of the servants were having an afternoon off. Composing herself a little, she slowly opened the door.

"Hello, Daidouji-san."

"Hello, Hiiragizawa-kun."

Yup. You probably guessed who it was going to be. Hiiragizawa Eriol, dark-haired, dark-eyed, a complete gentleman and also top of his classes. Not to mention drop-dead-gorgeous, if you like that kind of thing. Which Tomoyo does (you probably could have guessed that too). Ever since he had came to Tomoeda, Eriol had stolen Tomoyo's heart, which she thought had been stolen by Sakura. Tomoyo had soon realized that her feelings for Sakura were not ones of love, but that of affection for a close friend, like how you would feel for a sister.

So, it was no surprise that Tomoyo felt her heart skip a beat when she saw him there.

"Please, come in," she invited.

"Thank-you," Eriol said as he stepped in side the mansion.

They were always so polite to each other, Tomoyo thought to herself as they walked up to her study. They would ask of each other's health, comment on the weather, comment on the furnishing in the halls, the cleanliness of the banisters, the colour of the ceiling… They never talked about anything _normal_.

Damn.

"So what is the problem that you need help with?" Eriol asked politely as they settled themselves down at the table in the study. "It's unlike you to ask of help from somebody else…"

He was teasing her. Double damn.

"It's just the last problem," Tomoyo admitted, "but you know, Hiiragizawa-kun, that mathematics is not my strongest point."

Eriol smiled politely. "I hadn't noticed."

"Liar," Tomoyo chided softly. Eriol chuckled slightly.

"So, what is the problem?"

Tomoyo brought out the piece of paper which had the question written down on it. Their math teacher had put a list of them on the board and told the class to copy them off it, since the printer was broken and he couldn't make multiple copies.

Eriol looked at the page. "Hm… 'By letting a equal b, prove that 2 equals 1'," he read off. His eyes seemed to reflect slight amusement, but it was a fleeting thing. "Well," he continued, "it is a hard question, but I think I know how to answer it."

Tomoyo had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. "Of course you know," she said.

Eriol considered this for a moment before smiling. "Yes, I believe I do."

Tomoyo had to allow herself to laugh a little, and Eriol smiled fondly at her. The look her gave her made her stomach flutter slightly, and she forced herself not to blush. Instead, Tomoyo took a piece of blank paper, and wrote the question at the top.

"Well," Eriol began, looking over Tomoyo's shoulder as he started to help her, "you know that what you do to one side of the equation has to be done to the other?" Tomoyo nodded. "So, multiply the equation by 'a'."

Tomoyo did so, ignoring how close Eriol seemed to be hovering over her. When she had finished the first line her equation read _a squared equals __ab._

"Good," Eriol praised, leaning slightly closer. Tomoyo shivered involuntarily and kept her eyes on the page in front of her. "Now, the beauty of that rule is that you can always add values in. So, try and see what would happen it you subtract 'b_squared_' from each side."

Tomoyo did as she was told. As her arm moved in motion with her hand, her upper shoulder brushed slightly against Eriol's chest. Much to her discomfort, her face flushed in embarrassment.

_a squared__- b squared equals__ab__ - b squared_

"Hiiragizawa-kun?" Tomoyo asked, staring at the equation in slight confusion. "Are you sure that it's alright to keep adding in values?"

"Hai," Eriol replied. "As long as you do it to both sides, it's perfectly fine."

Tomoyo nodded, but still felt that there was something wrong with it. "Should it be factorised next?" she asked.

Eriol smiled in praise. "Yes," he said. "I don't think you really needed my help after all…"

"Iie, Hiiragizawa-kun," Tomoyo protested, whilst performing the next step of the equation, "I wouldn't have been able to get started without you."

"…I can see that," Eriol said, looking at the bin that had balls of paper surrounding it. He turned back to look at her. "How many trees did you cut down, Daidouji-san?" he teased.

Dammit. She hated it when he had that mischievous twinkle in his eye. It made it so much the harder to resist him.

"Don't worry, Hiiragizawa-kun," she told him, "I'll recycle the paper." She focused back on her work and continued to solve the equation.

_(a - b)(a + b) equals b(a-b) _

Eriol seemed to have moved even closer to Tomoyo, if that was even possible. He was so close now that Tomoyo could feel his breath tickling her neck.

"Daidouji-san…how long have we known each other?" he murmured.

Tomoyo was a little surprised at his question. "Four years," she told him.

"Hmm," he said. Tomoyo could practically feel the vibration of his voice.

No. Equation. Focus… now, cancel the like terms…

Eriol began to idly play with the hair hanging down Tomoyo's back. "Don't you think we've been friends long enough to call each other by a first-name basis?"

_Focus…_

_a + b equals b_

"I-I thought we were just being polite," she stammered, not looking at Eriol as he began to gently trace the outline of her face with his fingers.

_Since a equals b…_

_2b equals 1b_

"We're always being so polite," he murmured even closer to her ear. "How about we drop the act…Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo felt another shiver run along her body, but this one was more pleasant. Wait, she was meant to be doing her homework…right, now, divide by 'b'…

She scribbled down the last line to the equation. "What act?" she asked him.

Eriol gently turned her face towards his. "The act where we feign politeness for the sake of others. The one that we use as a shield to hide our true feelings. The one that we use on each other."

Tomoyo was stunned in to silence. She momentarily wondered how he had known, but then again, her and Eriol were so alike in many ways.

"You're right," she murmured to him. "There's no point trying to hide ourselves from each other…Eriol."

Eriol smiled slightly before slowly dipping his head towards Tomoyo's. His soft lips brush carefully against hers, giving her a chance to pull away if she wanted to. When she didn't, he gently pressed his lips against her own. Tomoyo felt herself completely lost by the simple, straightforward contacted that she was receiving. All other thoughts left her as Eriol's tongue glided gently across her lower lip. Tomoyo willing parted her lips for him and he gently pushed his tongue in to her mouth. Tomoyo threw her pencil down on to the table so that she could place her arms around Eriol's neck as she responded to his slow, passionate kiss.

The pencil landed on the paper on which Tomoyo was writing the solution to the equation. It lay just slightly above the answer…

_2 equals 1_

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It was the day when classes had started up again after the Christmas holiday. Tomoyo and Eriol were sitting next to each other in math, conversing with one another as they waited for the teacher to mark the homework that was set over the holidays. When the teacher was done marking them, he began to hand them back out to the class.

When he reached their table, the teacher said to Eriol, "Well done, Hiiragizawa-san. Full marks, as usual." Then, he turned to Tomoyo and said, "Daidouji-san, your answers were all correct, apart from the last one. Even so, the solution to that question was so good, that you received full marks anyway."

Tomoyo took back her homework, and looked at the last question. "It was wrong, sensei?" she inquired.

"Hai," he replied. "You had copied down the wrong question from the board."

The teacher walked away. Tomoyo looked at the question one more time before turning to glare at Eriol.

Eriol smiled innocently back at her. "Ah," he said, "but you found out in a different way that '2 equals 1', ne, Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo felt like slapping him and kissing him at the same time.

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My first one-shot! And I'm surprised that I finished it! Right now, I feel extremely dizzy (stupid train that went backwards). This little piece of fiction was inspired by the latest craze in my school, that '2 equals 1', although a friend of mine did point out a mistake with it, heh.

Anyway, if you read and review, I might write a fluffy Christmas fanfiction…


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